Thursday, June 17, 2010

The Woes of Ward

So James Ward, huh. The British kid who has put out Feliciano Lopez and Rainer Schuettler in a row. This would be an all right result for any top hundred guy - Deliciano and Rainer both have serious cojones on grass - but Ward is ranked #342. Good on you, kid.

And yet - for all their 'British tennis is going down the drain we have no one except Andy Murray we lost that one time to Lithuania' malarkey, the British tennis folks haven't wildcarded him into Wimbledon.

Hell, you'd think that with the current state of British tennis, they'd be throwing a tickertape parade for him as he rode into SW19 on the back of an elephant while being serenaded by Elton John. But no, total snub. I just don't get their reasoning here - have they run out of wildcards? What's the deal? What'sa going on? Because it doesn't make any sense at all.

The real loser here (apart from British tennis) is Ward, who will have his hot streak stopped cold in its tracks. It'll be back to satellite tournaments for him, while the entire British public bemoans the state of tennis today (Murray aside). You really have to feel for him. He deserves this wildcard, probably more than any other guy who has been carded into the main draw (from the British populace, at any case.) Is this going to be all he's reduced to? A big run at Eastbourne?

It'd be a sad thing indeed, if Eastbourne was the high point of his career.

That said, I hope he goes on and breaks some more heads at this tournament before his run is over. If he's not going to get a wildcard, then he needs to rub his success in the LTA's face, in my book.